Referring to the health, strength and durability of something. In computing terms, being robust is reliability or being available seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Robustness is an important characterists of the internet because network design is a key factor in the availability of data.

Examples

• Robust e-mail allows a company to convert most of their communications from paper to electronic.
• Robust Web sites allow customers to purchase items worldwide at any time of day and without fear of errors.
• Robust computers perform without stress or downtime, improving productivity.
• People prefer robust, always-on networking systems such as ISDN versus dialup, even if they are not much faster.
• OpenBSD is considered more robust than Linux is considered more robust than Windows.

A robust file sharing program may not provide all the desired data all the time but will deliver reliably, matching queries and completing downloads.

Robust control system : Central to the development of feedback control theory has been the notion of uncertainty. This arises in two forms: (a) discrepancy between the physical plant and the mathematical model used for controller design, and (b) unmeasured noises and disturbances that act on the physical plant. Feedback is used to desensitise the control system from the effect of both these types of uncertainty. Care must be exercised, however, as feedback in the presence of an uncertain plant can easily lead to instability if due consideration is not given to the way in which this uncertainty modifies the system behaviour. This is the essence of robust control theory.

See also: Programming | Security | Data Haven